Justice in the 518

I was told about this article by a friend on social media. After reading it and finding Mr. Rucker on Facebook, I felt compelled to do something, as our world has become so increasingly hostile that already angry people are finding it excusable to harass, degrade and abuse people who we feel are in a subservient role. This has nothing to do with politics; it is about humanity.

I not only plan on raising $5,000 for Mr. Rucker, but I will also be creating a petition to submit with a formal complaint to HOME DEPOT.

After looking at his Facebook profile and finding his band page, I cannot see anything but kindness and joy in this man and everything he does.  He makes music, he loves his family, and he reacted in the same way most would when being bombarded with violent, combative words for seemingly NO reason or rationale at all.  This could have been the waitress that serves my coffee at the diner, my daughter who works in retail and is only 17 at her first job, this could be you, your wife, your friend.  It could be any of us.

Gosh, we all need to cling tightly together, regardless of the elephants and donkeys in our lives and take a stand for one another.  I may be meek, and I may be mild, but I have always had the ROAR of a lioness when I see someone being victimized. So listen to my roar people. Will you rise up with me and make this world start being a better place again??????

Here is the link and some of the article which the TU printed about Mr. Rucker.  Let’s show him we’re carrying him. 518 ROAR!

Mr. Rucker will receive all proceeds directly. I spoke with him by phone today (Saturday, July 21st) , and he is grateful for the outpouring of generosity and support demonstrated though this campaign.

Updates will be steady.

(Article written in Times Union by Columnist, Chris Churchill [email redacted]) July 19, 2018

https://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Churchill-When-the-customer-is-terribly-wrong-13086310.php

Most anyone who has worked retail can tell one or two stories about obnoxious customers who believe that spending a few bucks means they're free to degrade the person on the opposite side of the counter.

Few of those stories compare to the one Maurice Rucker told me the day he was fired from The Home Depot in Albany.

Rucker, 60, was working a booth in the store's garden center. He was talking to a customer on the phone, he says, when a man with an unleashed dog pulled his cart to the opposite booth and loudly complained.

"He's slow. He's just slow," the man repeatedly said of Rucker.

Initially confused, Rucker decided to tell the man that his dog should be leashed while in the Central Avenue store. And with that, the man lost his cool, letting loose with a string of epithets and telling Rucker, who is black, that his opinion did not count.

"You're from the ghetto," said the man, who was white. "What do you know?"

That wasn't all. According to Rucker, the man told him he wouldn't have a job if it were not for Donald Trump. He said Barack Obama is a Muslim who didn't know what he was doing. All the while, he continued to hit Rucker with F-bombs and other incendiary language.

(to read more please click on the article online in the Times Union)